Kejriwal Ducks Question, Akhilesh Downplays Maliwal Assault

AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal and ally Akhilesh Yadav skirted questions about AAP MP Swati Maliwal's assault claims. AAP leader Sanjay Singh denounced BJP for ignoring women's safety issues, citing past incidents and Maliwal's alleged mistreatment by Delhi Police. Kejriwal declined comment, stating more pressing matters. Yadav criticized BJP for using false cases, while Singh urged PM Modi to address atrocities against women under BJP rule. The AAP leadership expressed solidarity with Maliwal but stated that the BJP should answer for its record on women's safety.

AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal refused comment on the Swati Maliwal 'assault' at a joint press conference on Thursday where Akhilesh Yadav said there are ''more important things'' to discuss.

AAP leader Sanjay Sing, also present at the press conference here, said there should be no politics on the issue. He then targeted the BJP government and raised the issue of a Manipuri woman being paraded naked, the Prajwal Revanna sex scandal and Maliwal being 'beaten' up by police during protests by wrestlers when she was the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chief.

When Kejriwal was asked a question over the alleged assault of AAP Rajya Sabha MP Maliwal, Yadav took the microphone, and said, ''There are more important things than that''.

He then unfolded a piece of paper and said, ''BJP people are not with anyone, it is a 'gang' that lodges false cases''.

Sanjay Singh then took the microphone from the SP chief, and said the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi should answer for atrocities against women during the party rule. ''The entire country is sad till date that wife of a Kargil veteran was paraded naked in Manipur and the PM of India remained silent. Prajwal Revanna raped thousands of women and he was allowed to flee from the country by the BJP,'' he alleged, ''When the female wrestlers were protesting at Jantar Mantar, Swati Maliwal went there as NCW chief, she was dragged and beaten by the police. In UP, in case of Kuldeep Singh Sengar and Hathras the PM of India has remained quite and not said a word,'' he said.

Maliwal had alleged that the Delhi Chief Minister's assistant Bibhav Kumar ''misbehaved'' with her at his residence.

Singh, who had met Maliwal at her residence on Wednesday, said, ''The AAP is our family. Party has made its view clear. I want that BJP and PM should also answer on the issues I have kept before you. He (PM) should answer on the issue of Swati Maliwal, who was dragged and beaten when she went to seek justice for the female wrestlers. I just want to say don't play political games on the issues''.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)